Forget Me Not
by enderhood
Summary: Ever since a winged skeleton accidentally discovered he can time/dimension travel when he's 7 years old(human age), life started to change and become different for him. Winged Traveler AU, Dimension/time travel AU ***Section 1:Unintended Consequence (Chapter 1-8): COMPLETED Intermission(Chapter 9):COMPLETED Section 2:? *** Abandoned as I have lost interest on this fic
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 _Papyrus, sorry that I have to go 'traveling' again. I know you hate it but there's something important I must do. If you're reading this, it means that I'm probably dead somewhere in other world. I hate to sound so depressive, but I don't think I can handle anymore, I have seen too much…Perhaps it is the time you learn about the truth which I've hidden from you and the others for a long time…..it all begins in my very first flight….._


	2. Chapter 1: Freefall

**Part I: Discovery**

 **Chapter 1 :Freefall**

I remembered 7 years ago, I was still a kid who got bullied for no reason. They often picked on me because of my appearance, because I looked weak and strange to them. At that time, the only thing I can do was to run away and tried to stay out of trouble, yet the bullies always found their way and caught me off guard. Once they've surrounded me, they started to beat me up violently while saying mean stuff about my family. The process continued for around 10 minutes, sometimes even an hour. No matter how hard I tried to fight back through using magic or words, it's still useless. They're twice of my size and came in groups, I'm totally defenseless and too weak to them. This has become a routine until one day, something unexpected happened…..

I was practicing my magic in a quiet place which I've found out long time ago while I was exploring Snowdin, didn't really pay much attention around my surrounding until a voice interrupted me. At that time, I knew that bad things was going to happen.

'Playing with your stupid pile of bones again?' the voice sneered.

'Go away and leave me alone…'I said without turning around, knowing the bullies have come.

'You look so lonely, mind if we "join" you…?' another voice said.

The sound were getting closer, without hesitation, I started to run as quickly as possible, hoping the bullies won't be able to catch up with me.

As a skeleton, I seemed to get the advantage on speed and agility. Not only because I weighed less but also my 'regular training' on dodging and running. Thanks to the bullies, I'm able to dodge and react quicker than many monster around my age at that time. Plus with the extra limbs on my back, I got a better sense of balance, yet the downside was they gave the bullies a chance to grab me easily.

During the chase, I was too scared and just blindly ran towards the forest next to me. After putting some distance between them, I decided to hide inside a bush, silently praying they will give up in some point.

'Where did the Winged-freak go?' a voice cried.

'He's sure one sneaky little bastard, let's spread out and search, he will not have gone that far…' another voice said calmly.

After few seconds later, a mixture sound of leaf rustling, shouting and footsteps slowly drifted towards me. The more closer the sound were, the harder I can control my body to stop shaking. The whole process was a torture and time seemed to have slow down itself.

 _ **Rustle, Rustle, Rustle….**_

The sound made me froze and everything suddenly became still. Without warning, something grabbed me from behind and I can't help but screamed. I turned around and faced the 'Capturer', who turns out to be an ugly big bear looking monster.

'Gotcha, little freak….'the bear monster grinned, showing its yellow sharp teeth.

I tried my best to wriggle one of my hands out, after few second later, I summoned few bones out from the ground and aimed them at the bear monster's leg. The bear monster yelled in pain and dropped me immediately.

My bone magic at that time didn't really do much damage, but they have bought me some time to escape. I quickly scanned the forest and found light shining far ahead from me which it seemed to be an exit. Without wasting any seconds, I ran towards that direction.

 _Bright, brighter and brighter…._

Just when I thought I've escaped from the bullies, the exit turns out to be a cliff with nothing below but darkness. Great, now what?

'You're nowhere to hide, just give up running away from us…' a voice said.

I turned around and found the bear monster and his friends were blocking the entrance of the forest, slowly approaching me.

'Stay away from me!' I cried, backing away from them.

'Just accept your fate, you're destined to be a punch bag…' the bear monster sneered, it didn't seem to like the 'leg massage' I gave him just now.

The bullies were getting closer and I was too focus on them, didn't aware that I have ran out of space. I slipped and fall backwards, the cliff seemed to have shrunk the further I dropped.

Fear has took over my mind at that moment, I was completely numbed and shocked, unable to think about what to do next. I shut my eye sockets tightly, unwilling to face my death. Something inside me seemed to refuse of what just happened, the only thing I felt that time was a mixture of anger and fear….

 _ **SWOOSH!**_

The falling speed seemed to decelerate a little and I slowly opened my eye sockets. Instead of facing the cliff, I was staring at the darkness down below me. I looked around and found light blue feathers has grown on my extra limbs, it took me few seconds to realize they were wings, which were now glowing softly in the dark. Before I had the time to process, I saw a tiny oval shape hole suddenly appeared right in front of me and it was displaying a scene of a forest. The moment my body contacted the hole, it felt like I just landed into a pool of water. Next second, I found myself sitting on a dirt ground, still confused and shocked. I slowly stood up and brushed some dust away on my clothes, cautiously looked around. I noticed I was surrounded by trees and saw something blinking beautifully in the sky, at that time I have no clue they were the real stars but thinking they were decoration on the ceiling in the Waterfall.

Something ain't right about this place….where were the snow and why was the atmosphere suddenly became unfamiliar?

Before I can explore further, I heard footsteps coming from far ahead, no choice but to hide again….

 _(END OF CHAPTER 1)_


	3. Chapter 2 : The Place

**Chapter 2 : The Place**

Instead of hiding inside a bush, I decided to climb up on a tree which was not too high from the ground. After I managed to reach to the top, two figures quickly emerged down below me. Carefully, I moved some branches that blocked my view and silently observed the surroundings. In front of me, I saw a town filled with tiny colourful light which were glowing brightly in the starry night. The scene just caught my attention until I heard the figures started talking. It's hard to see in the dark but I saw a short, chubby guy and a girl, who were standing in front of a cliff watching the city view.

'It's a lovely evening, isn't it?' the guy asked.

'It is….. the stars are so big and bright tonight…' the girl answered.

The guy gave a small chuckle but quickly stopped.

'You do not seem to look well tonight….are you alright?' the girl asked, sounded concerned.

'Yeah I'm fine….just tired…' the guy said, sounded unhappy.

They stopped speaking for few minutes.

'Is there something you want to tell me? You really don't sound ok…' the girl said suddenly.

The guy sighed and took a deep breath.

'It's been 5 years ever since we've made it to the surface, everyone seems to be so happy and can live peacefully with the humans…even now I still find it hard to believe we finally be free from Underground…' the guy said.

'That's a good thing, right?' the girl said, trying to sound cheerful.

'Not until everything disappeared in the blink of an eye…' the guy finished coldly.

Even though I have no idea of what the two figures were talking about that time, right after the guy stopped, I felt a sense of chillness slowly crawling on my back.

'Look kid…I don't know how long I can keep up, but you need to know even monsters have a bottom line….one day I might just snap and hurt you and others…' the guy said. '…And this is the last thing I ever want it to happen…'

The girl stayed silent, only continued to stare at the view. After some time later, she finally spoke.

'I'm sorry…' the girl murmured. 'It's all my fault…'

'So you finally admit….all the timeline shenanigans….it's all your work, am I correct?' the guy asked.

The girl hesitated for a moment but later gave him a firm nod.

'Why?' the guy asked quietly slowly turned and faced the girl.

The moment he turned, I just stared at him fearfully, he's glaring at the girl with one bright blue eye. For some reason, something about him seemed really familiar to me.

'How many times do I need to watch my brother died over and over again while I can't do anything to prevent it happen?' he said, his voice slowly raised. 'How many times do you want to send everyone back to square one?'

The guy's blue eye flashed rapidly in the colour of light blue like a tiny flame of fire.

'When can this nightmare truly ends and everyone can live happily ever after for real!? ANSWER ME, FRISK!' the guy's voice wavered, later he just kneeled down on the ground and I heard sniffing sound came from him.

The girl slowly kneeled down next to him and hugged him. The guy hesitated a moment but later just hugged back. Both of them remained in their position for a long time. At that moment, I can't help but felt sad for him.

'I promise, Sans….I will never Reset again…' the girl said quietly.

Sans? Why was the guy got the same name like me? Things just got more complicated and I don't like it.

Time slowly passed, I started to feel hungry at that time. I patiently waited until the two figures left, later slowly climbed down the tree. The longer I stayed in this place, the more uncomfortable I felt. Before I tried to find my way back home, I decided to head towards the town for food.

It was not a long way to town, around 15 minutes, I have reached to the entrance. Inside of the town, most of the shops were closed and the street was deserted. I cautiously looked around the area and found a bakery was still opened, interestingly, there's no one in the shop. I quickly double checked the place and make sure everything was safe before going inside.

Different types of pastries, cakes, bread lined up neatly and accordingly on the shelves, the whole shop was filled with vanilla and cake smell. I carefully took a small bag of cookies which placed near the door and a bag of bread next to it. I felt guilty to steal things but there's no other choice, I got no money and I'm really hungry and tired after the walk from the forest. Just when I was about to leave the shop, a woman came out from a door behind the cashier counter. We stared at each other for few seconds, later I slowly turned around and started running. Behind me, I heard the woman started screaming 'Thief!' and a mixture of noise that I don't bother to care. All I wanted that time was to go home and left this place forever.

When I was about to reach to the entrance, a small oval shape hole that I saw earlier appeared in front of me, instead of displaying a scene of a forest, this time it displayed my house. Without thinking, I ran towards it. The familiar feeling of landing into a pool of water occurred once my body contacted the hole, sometime later, I found myself standing in front of the house.

At that time, I wasn't sure if I managed to escape that place. Slowly, I opened the front door and peeked inside. Inside of the house, my dad was sitting on the couch, looking tired and worried. Next to him, Papyrus was sleeping on my dad's lap, he looked unhappy. Gathered up my courage, I carefully walked into the living room.

'Dad? Papyrus?' I asked cautiously.

My dad looked up and faced me, his expression went from worry to relieve. Before I can say anything, he quickly hugged me. Tears started to form inside my eye sockets and I started to cry…..

 _(END OF CHAPTER 2)_


	4. Chapter 3:Resolution

**Chapter 3 :Resolution**

'Where have you been? It's been 3 days I haven't seen you returning home.' my dad asked after our long hug.

'I…' I hesitated, how can I explain?

Things just became complicated and happened in split second that I don't even have the time to react, plus I don't even understand what's going on that time. All I know was I got transported to another place while I was falling to my death.

'I got lost in a forest…' I lied, can't find a better explanation. 'Later found some food in the process.'

My dad frowned for a second but later decided to let me take a rest, he gently picked up Papyrus and led me to our bedroom (me and Papyrus used to share a room together). Once my dad put Papyrus back to his crib, he later tucked me in. Few seconds later, I was out like a light.

I don't know how long I've slept, the next second I opened my eyes, I found Papyrus lying next to my side, sleeping. Slowly, I got up and gently covered him with my blanket, later decided to leave the room.

' Z…Zan!''

I turned around and noticed Papyrus has woke up, looking at me with his big puppy eyes.

'Good morning, brother!' I said, smiling.

At the exact moment, he burst into tears and started to wiggle out of my blanket, later crawled his way to me in a fast pace and hugged my leg.

'ZAN!' he cried.

For a few seconds, I'm not quite sure what to do. But then I remembered my dad used to comfort me by patting my head gently and gave me encouragement. I slowly kneeled down in front of Papyrus and patted his head as gently as possible.

' Hey…it's alright….I'm here, brother.' I said softly, he seemed to calm down a little.

'You will not believe what I've just seen….holes, lights, weird guys…'I continued.

Papyrus stared at me with his puppy eyes, tears still streaming down his face.

'Things got really weird and confusing, even myself don't know what have happened…but no matter what, I'll never leave you again…I promise….'I said, looking straight at him.

He stopped crying and started to smile. Seeing him smile made me happy.

'Heh…heh…heh…come on, let's head downstairs…dad should have prepare some food for us…'I chuckled, later picked up Papyrus.

After taking him downstairs, I noticed my dad was reading newspaper on the couch casually.

'Your food is inside the kitchen.' my dad said without looking up.

'Ok…'I said, I put my brother on his baby chair and headed to the kitchen.

A large bowl of porridge was placed on the kitchen table and it was still hot. I wasn't too hungry at that time and decided to give half of them to Papyrus, who will literally eat everything and don't seem to feel satisfy every time he finished his food. Once I placed the porridge in front of him, few seconds later, he started playing with it and made a mess on his face and the table, I can't help but laughed a little. After everything was settled, I began to eat my food.

While I was eating, I can't stop thinking about the 'accident' that happened earlier, which it kept popping inside my head. For some reason, I got a feeling that it will keep happening unless something stops it. I don't want my family to worry about me again, especially Papyrus. Whenever he's upset, it just makes me really sad as well. Perhaps my dad can help me?

'Dad?' I asked.

'Yes?' he replied, still looking at the newspaper.

'Is it possible to travel from one place to another place?' I asked.

'If you're talking about transports like the boat that the Riverperson used in Waterfall, then it's a yes.' my dad answered.

'Then can we travel from one place to another complete different place that you've never seen before?' I asked, trying to clarify my question.

'Well….that's a good question and it's a bit tricky to do this….hang on, there are some books you might be interested…'my dad said, he quickly got up and went upstairs.

Around few minutes later, he returned with few books ranged from thin to thick. He placed them on the couch and gestured me to sit next to him. I followed his instruction and stared at the books curiously. He picked up the thinnest book which named 'Space and Time' and flipped to the content page and showed it to me.

'This book explains the most basic things about space and time and it included a lot of stories which revolve around topics like planets, stars, history and myths. For example, have you ever heard of the zodiac? They are a group of stars which represent different types of animal or human…'my dad explained.

I wasn't fully paid attention that time as I was busy on scanning titles and flipping pages of each books, most of the titles were related to space and time, while two of them related to something called 'Parallel Universe' and 'Time travelling'. All of them look interesting and I'm eager to learn more about them, they might be the solution to help my case!

'…If you have any question, feel free to ask me.' My dad said, smiling.

'Thank you, dad!' I hugged my dad and quickly carried all the books he gave to my room.

'You haven't finished your food yet…'my dad said, but I've already shut the door and started reading the thinnest book.

My dad has home schooled me since I was like 4-5 years old and likes to teach me lot of science stuff, because of these reason, it took me only a short amount of time to understand a concept/ theory and I can move on to the next chapter quickly. Days slowly turned to weeks then to years, I started to understand the relationship between time and space, later I began to figure out my wings were the key element that caused the 'accident'. Somehow it can transport me to different multiverse in few seconds, I often found myself ended up in weird places or meeting alternative selves. The process was really complicated and confusing sometimes, nonetheless, after 7 years of hard work and experiment, I managed to capture the skill to fly and use magic to attack the same time, plus travel through time/dimension for short amount of time (this part still need more practice).

Everything went quite well until something happened the day I turned 14…

 _(END OF CHAPTER 3)_


	5. Chapter 4: Clandestine

**Part II: Decay**

 **Chapter 4: Clandestine**

'I'm moving in to Hotland and unable to see you two regularly….'

After hearing this news from my dad, I felt my heart sunk and my 14th birthday party no longer upbeat and fun.

'Why do you need to go to Hotland? There's nothing but lava and heat.' Papyrus said, frowning.

'Because I love being a scientist and the king has recruited me, plus there are advance equipment and technology in that place.' my dad replied.

'Then when will you come back and visit us?' I asked quietly.

My dad hesitated for a bit and stared at me sadly.

'I…I don't know…maybe once a month or even longer….it's going to be really irregular but I'll try my best to squeeze some time and visit you two.' my dad said, trying to smile. 'Even I can't make it, I can still contact both of you two through phone or writing letters.' my dad said.

'Can we call you too?' Papyrus asked.

'You can but only in night time around 10:00 and in case of emergency as I'll be really busy and unable to answer phone calls, I'll leave my phone number and one of my friend's number after the party…' my dad said. 'Speaking of which, I got something special for you, Sans…..'

My dad quickly went upstairs and few minutes later, I saw him holding a shopping bag with a plastic tape sealing the opening of it. He later handed the bag to me.

'Open it.' my dad said, encouragingly.

I carefully removed the tape and opened the bag, later I found a blue long hoodie was placed neatly inside. Unlike ordinary hoodie, the back of it was cut into 3 pieces and it took me sometime to understand why the cuttings looked weird.

'Thanks, dad…'I smiled. '"Owl" put it on now.'

'SANS!'Papyrus exclaimed.

I heard my dad laughed at his reaction while I was trying to put my hoodie on, it took me some time to arrange my wings and fit in the gaps.

'Do you like it?' my dad asked.

'Yep, it's cool and comfortable.' I said. 'Thanks for the gift.'

'You look like a super hero!' Papyrus said excitedly.

'Thanks, brother.' I said.

After receiving my dad's gift, I felt my spirit lifted up a bit yet it's still sad without him staying with us for a long time. Two days later, before my dad left the house, me and Papyrus took turn and gave him a hug, later watched my dad headed towards the Waterfall direction and disappeared in the foggy area.

'I'm going to miss him so much.' Papyrus said.

'Me too…' I said. 'But on the bright side, we can do whatever we want…'

'Does this mean I don't have to go to bed before 10:00? Papyrus asked.

'I guess?' I said.

'This is going to be FUN! I can have more time to play!NYEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!' Papyrus said happily, jumping up and down.

For the first few days, me and Papyrus stayed up late and played till we felt tired. Solving puzzles, watching TV, eating junk food…etc. It was really fun and happy without my dad watching us. Sometimes I will take Papyrus with me and we'll fly together in the sky when there was nothing to do. We often discover new areas in the process and Papyrus will get really excited about it, sometimes he even asked me to land and explore the place. After the landing, most of the time we'll got ourselves in trouble immediately, usually involved random large monster confrontation or just got lost in a place for few hours. Luckily we made it out alive. In rare circumstances, we'll even find some treasure came from the Surface like books, gadgets that we've never seen before. After the adventure, we'll just go back home and called that a day.

The process repeated and we began to get use of the routine. Usually, before we headed to bed, we'll check the mailbox and waited for 30- 45 minutes to see if there's any phone calls or letters from my dad. Once he called/wrote to us, Papyrus loves to be the first one to answer/ read. Time slowly passed, for some reason, my dad started to call/ write lesser every month( he used to call us at least 3 times per week/ write once per month), around 3 months later, we no longer received any calls/ letters from him.

'Do you think dad will call us today? I miss him so much…' Papyrus asked one day while we're doing target practice with our magic.

'Not sure, brother….maybe you can leave a voice message to him after the training?' I suggested.

From the day my dad stopped contacted us, I started to become worried about him. Was he doing alright? Did he get into some kind of accident that caused him unable to contact us? Things just got tensed after this, I tried my best to stay positive and support Papyrus in both daily and emotion need. Sometimes I'll travel to some dimension that I'm familiar with and brought interesting 'souvenirs' for Papyrus, trying to keep him entertain and happy. However, it still never truly solved the problem. Without my dad, there's always something missing in the house.

'AHHHHHHH!'

My train of thought was interfered by Papyrus's scream, I quickly checked what happened to him and found he's pressing his head with one of his hands, tears streaming down his face.

'I hit the tree too hard with my 'special attack' and it rebounded.' Papyrus said.

'Hang on, I'll be back in few minutes.' I said, quickly rushed back into the house.

I headed towards the living room and opened a drawer which kept a first aid box, but I found it was empty inside. Later, I quickly ran towards my dad's room which he kept a box of medicine in case of emergency. For some reason, the door was locked. Without hesitation, I held out one of my hands and 'activated' my blue eye, focusing to get inside the room and channeled all my magic into the hand. In a second, a rift appeared right in front of me and it was displaying an image of my dad's bed. An uneasy feeling began to develop inside me once I went inside.

The room was dark and I can barely see my surroundings, once I flipped the switch, I found myself surrounded by pile of diagrams, documents and notes, all written/labeled in strange symbols. I barely have space to move towards the drawer where my dad kept his box. I carefully opened the drawer, trying not to knock the things down and got what I need. In the process, I found a silver key and a tube contained some strange liquid labeled 'Experiment 01'.

Everything inside the room suddenly became unfamiliar to me. Unknown documents, strange sample, locked room….

What were you up to, dad?

 _(END OF CHAPTER 4)_


	6. Chapter 5:The Lab

**Chapter 5 : The Lab**

'Here you go…your pain should cease within 3 days.' I said after applying the medicine on Papyrus's wound.

'Thank you.' he said.

'Come on, it's getting late. We should head back to the house.' I said, holding his hand and led him to the house. 'You also need some rest in order to speed up your recovery.'

After finished our dinner and tucking Papyrus into bed, I decided to head back towards my dad's room and began to investigate his stuff. I got a bad feeling about those things I've found earlier.

The first thing I checked was the pile of documents. As I examined closely, each document's title labeled the same sets of symbol '******* ****'. I remembered when I was young, my dad has taught me and Papyrus about reading such symbols, saying it can help to encode message. Until now, I'm still having a bit trouble on reading it. It took me sometime to recall what the symbols represented and tried to decode the message, after this, I found out the title was called 'PROJECT SOUL'. I picked one of the documents and started reading it, later it turns out to be some sort of description about a machine that can extract soul and it included a blue print with detail explanation of how each part works. The more I read those documents/ diagram, more questions started to pop up inside my head. Around an hour later, I decided to move on checking the drawer.

I carefully picked up the tube and examined closely, the liquid inside was dark red and there's some sort of sediment sunk under the bottom, which was really odd and kind of disgusting. After placing the tube back, I picked up the silver key and found a small sticker labeled 'Lab' on the back of it. Judging with the size of the key, it seemed to be some sort of room key. I looked around the room and attempted to find hidden rooms/area which may be the 'Lab', yet I found none. Later, I decided to get out of the room and extended the searching area. Doors, cupboard, rooms even the painting on the wall…etc. The 'Lab' should be in the house somewhere. After a long search, I eventually went outside and headed towards the 'storage room' which located behind the house.

My dad never told me and Papyrus anything about the room other than informing us it was used for storing stuff. Sometimes when I passed the room, I can hear some sort of animal shrieking sound came from inside. Whenever I asked my dad about it, he'll just changed subject and never answer my question. Something ain't right about this and perhaps this was the time to find out what's behind the door. I carefully placed the key inside the keyhole and it fitted perfectly. A long dark corridor was revealed in front of me and I can smell a strong scent of chemical and detergent came from the room. For some reason, the atmosphere seemed to become creepy all in sudden and I don't like it.

Slowly, I gathered all my courage and went inside the room. Once I closed the door, I quickly 'lit' up my blue eye and used it as my light source and tried to find the room light switch. In the process, I noticed there were lots of diagram and notes being placed on the wall, plus there was a large cupboard contained numerous of chemicals and samples, which labeled in code number (similar to the tube inside my dad's room).

As I walked further into the room, I noticed a small computer screen has turned on itself. Once approached it, there was a list of folder appeared on the screen, each named 'PJS' with a number behind it. I randomly touched one of the folders and a new computer page popped up, showing a paragraph written in strange symbol. It took me some time to decode the message and it seemed to be some sort of science log.

 _Project Soul-Day 150_

 _I injected 'Experiment 01' to Test Subject 09, it worked effectively! Test Subject 09 become stronger and healthier than before, perhaps this is a step closer to make monster soul stronger…._

I touched another folder and a new page popped up, instead of a paragraph, this time it was a video clip. I clicked the 'play' button and I saw a bird being trapped inside a large tube, attempting to flee. During the process, I heard some sort of animal shrieking sound in the background and I saw my dad wearing a science robe, carefully lifted up the tube and placed it on a weird looking machine with a holder. Next to a machine, a sick Froggit was croaking unhappily inside a small cage.

' _Sorry little bird, I have to do this …'_ my dad said, later he pressed a large red button on the machine.

The machine started to roar and a strong white light suddenly 'filled up' the tube. In the process, my dad placed a small test tube on the holder and dark red liquid started to drip down from a strange looking pipe. Around few minutes later, the test tube was filled with dark red liquid and the light has faded, the bird that trapped inside the large tube earlier was lying on the ground, dead.

' _It's going to be a little bit painful afterwards, but I promise that you're going to feel better….'_ my dad said, facing the Froggit.

My dad later got a syringe from a table and went to the machine to obtain the red liquid, later he slowly injected it to the Froggit. At first nothing was happened, but around few seconds later, the Froggit started to shake violently and feathers sprouted out from its skin, later a tiny pair of wings began to grow on its back. The duration of this horrifying transformation occurred for few minutes, after that, the Froggit passed out.

My dad slowly walked in front of the camera, looking disappointed and sad.

' _Day 200 of Project Soul, Test Subject 15 has passed out after I injected 'Experiment 03' to him, feathers sprouted out and a pair of wings grew out from its back. It seems that the test subjects have partially take form from their 'Host'. There's got to be a way to fix this problem.'_

As I continued to watch/look at my dad's science log/video log, his experiments was getting worse and more disturbing to watch, I eventually decided to stop and moved on. What the hell was wrong with my dad? How could he do such cruel and horrible things to sick and weak looking monsters/ animals? The dad I know will not even harm a fly, what cause him turned into a dark and twisted person?

After some exploration, I finally found the light switch and turned it on. However instead of light, I heard something has clicked open and the room suddenly filled with foul smell, I followed the smell and came across another room. If I had a stomach, I'm pretty sure that I'd have vomit everything out.

Inside the room, there were dust/ash being stored in glass cylinder, dissected part of monsters and animals, all being pinned on the wall with notes written next to them. The weird looking machine that I saw earlier was placed in the corner of the room. I noticed there were dark red stain stuck on the surface of the machine and the floor. I didn't even bother to look what's deeper inside the room and quickly went out and pressed the switch. After that, the room in front of me sealed up itself and the foul smell has gone.

I was numbed and shocked at that time, it took me sometime to 'recover' what I've just seen. Slowly, I felt my brain started working again and began to think about what to do. Even though I'm really confused and scared that time, there's one thing I know need to take action….

My dad's science project must be stopped…


	7. Chapter 6: Wasteland

**Chapter 6 : Wasteland**

The first thing I did was to lock the lab and returned the key, making sure it was placed at the exact same place like before, later I quickly picked up the phone and called my dad.

 _Ring….Ring….._

1 minute has passed…3 minute has passed…I just stood there and waited. Around 5 minutes later, the waiting sound of the phone was replaced by my dad's business voicemail greeting. As I dialed the phone, I felt my mind was racing and panic started to raise inside me. Part of me was scared about my dad's reaction, how would he reacted on his son finding his dark secret? At the same time I felt really worry about him, what if the Royal guards find out about him? What would they do to him? The more I thought about this, the more nervous I'm.

In the progress, I've tried to call my dad's friend, hoping he will know where my dad was, yet for some reason I can't contact him. After few more attempts, I decided to give up and left a quicker voice message, telling both of them to call me as soon as possible. Later I just laid down on the couch and stared at the ceiling blankly.

While I was waiting, I can't help and started to think about what would happen if my dad got imprisoned/ got executed. Different sceneries began to play inside my head: Me and Papyrus watching dad being sent to jail by Royal guards, dad suffered in jail, Papyrus crying and he locked himself inside the room, crying himself to sleep….Thinking such sceneries made my heart ache and I can't stand any of them suffering. I quickly got up and picked up the phone again, as I expected, my dad's phone was unreachable.

At that moment, I've decided that I need to go to Hotland and find him. Even I don't know where his working place exactly was, waiting my dad/ his friend's call won't do anything good.

'Heya dad, it's Sans here. I'm coming to Hotland and pay you a visit, there's something really urgent and important I need to discuss with you. Please call me as soon as possible and many thanks.'

After leaving my voice message, I quickly packed up few things and began to focus my mind on getting myself to Hotland, few seconds later, a rift appeared in front of me and I stepped inside. In the blink of my eye (eye socket), I was standing next to the giant Hotland LED sign. I walked cautiously and scanned my surroundings, after making sure no one was nearby, I pulled out a map which shows the whole area of Hotland and studied it.

Hotland was the largest area in the Underground and it divided into few parts. All areas were surrounded by lava and there's not much to visit except 2 labs, one was located near the entrance and another located near the Capital, which was also the King's castle. Before my dad stopped answering my calls, I remembered him mentioned he worked near the King's castle. Without hesitation, I decided to teleport towards the Capital, hoping I can find his exact location. Just when I was about to make a rift, I heard a massive boom from far ahead and felt the ground rumbled loudly. I ignored the noise and focused, later found myself standing near the entrance of the Capital. I quickly rushed towards the lab while praying my dad will be safe in the process, yet I only 'greeted' by a ruined structure which lava began to flow inside and black smoke raising above it.

'Dad?' I called out while slowly approaching the former lab.

Near the structure, I saw there were lots of broken equipment and science machine which I don't even know what they were lying on the ground, there were burnt paper and document scattered around the place and some of it started to catch on fire. The whole place was a mess and I don't see anyone around the area.

'Dad? Can you hear me?' I called out again, while lifting some of the structure away with my magic, hoping to find my dad.

During the process, something shiny caught my attention and I quickly picked it up and examined it.

 _ **Royal Science Department Identification Card**_

 _ **Name: W.D. Gaster. (ID. 00666666)**_

 _ **Sex: Male Date of birth: 05-01-XXXX**_

 _ **Authority: Royal Scientist Security Level: L4**_

The moment I read my dad's ID card, I felt my mind was racing and I held the card tightly. Desperation have took over me at that time and I sort of losing control of myself, I ran around the place like a maniac and searching blindly without caring what's going around me. Sometime later, I felt my desperation slowly died out. I just kneeled down on the ground and stared at the structure blankly, breathing shakily.

 _Dad….please don't leave me and Papyrus….._

The sound of footstep and shouting has 'awakened' me from numbness. I quickly got up, making sure my dad's ID card was tucked safely inside my pocket and teleported back to my house. By the time I got back, I quickly went towards my room and checked on Papyrus, later found that he has woke up and there were tears on his eye sockets. Without thinking, I walked forward and hugged him. Papyrus immediately hugged me back and he started crying again.

'It's alright Paps…I'm here…' I said, trying my best to smile.

'I…I had a bad dream just now ….and my head hurts….'Papyrus said. 'I saw you and a man leaving me behind in the dark….you said you don't love me anymore….'

'You're my only and beloved brother….I won't do anything to hurt or even leave you, the thing you saw just now was not real…it's just a dream.' I said.

'But it's so real…I…I can show you how the man looked like!' Papyrus quickly got out of his bed and pointed at one of his pictures which he drew dad smiling happily. 'He's really scary and I saw his body melted into a puddle of black goo….the creepiest thing is the goo man reminds me something strangely familiar about this man on this picture… speaking of which, did you draw this?'

'You drew this picture 3 days ago, remember?' I said.

Papyrus stared at me blankly and tilted his head on one side, confused. Something aren't right about this….

'Did I…?' Papyrus asked.

'You said you really miss dad and wanted to see him again…..' I said, trying to remain calm and help Papyrus to recall his memories. 'You even asked me to help you to draw some of the parts….'

Papyrus shutted his eye socket tightly and thought to himself for a while.

'Nope….I have no idea who this man is….' Papyrus said after few minutes. 'Do we have a dad?'

'Ok….seriously, that's not funny…..maybe you should try another way to mess with me….' I said, started to get annoyed.

'I'm serious, Sans!' Papyrus said, locking his eye socket firmly on me.

Whenever Papyrus was serious, he'll locked his eye socket firmly on a person, in addition he's bad at lying. Even he tries to prank with me, I can easily 'avoid'/ outsmart him. Sensing papyrus was telling the truth, I slowly took out dad's ID card and showed it to him.

'You sure you don't remember him?' I asked. 'Our dad? The one who tell you bedtime stories and tug you into bed before he went…..'

Before I can finished the sentence, I noticed dad's face and his name were blackened, like it's been burnt out badly by fire which I couldn't see his appearance and the letters. How did this happen?

'Is this your stupid prank again?' Papyrus asked, looked tired.

'No….I swear….I didn't create these marks on the card.' I said.

'Brother…aren't you little too old for this?' Papyrus said, annoyed. 'Also can you leave me alone for a while?'

'Sure….bro….'I said, later closed the door and left wearily.

I went downstairs and laid down on the couch, feeling confused and overwhelmed by what I saw in Hotland. So many questions need to be answered and I felt my head was aching.

What the hell is going on!?

 _(END OF CHAPTER 6)_


	8. Chapter 7: Time Wrap

**Chapter 7: Time Wrap**

 _BREAKING_ _NEWS: A_ _large explosion has occurred in the Royal Science Department located near the Capital on 3:00am. The explosion has destroyed the whole facility and few monster's home. No one was reported killed, 10 monster were injured in the process, most of them are scientist who worked inside the building. Royal guards are currently investigating the area and searching for more survivors. They preliminary estimated that the explosion was caused by gas leakage…'_

I watched the news attentively, hoping to find/catch a glimpse of my dad on the screen. During the process, I constantly took out my dad's card and examined closely. His face and his name were still blackened, nothing have changed at all. I have lost count of how much time has passed and how many times I've seen the same news highlight repeating over and over again. Most information I've gathered were pointless, they don't exactly related to my dad/his whereabout. The only thing that was useful was the interview of few survivors. One of the scientists mentioned before the accident happened, an alarm was setted off and everyone in the area went for the exit, about few minutes later, he saw the building exploded. If there's enough time for all scientist to escape, why can't I receive any news from him in the past hours? After some time later, I decided to switch off the TV and walked around the house, giving myself time to think.

' _There're many ways to solve a problem, sometimes you just need to think out of the box/start with the clue(s) you have in your hand, eventually you'll reach to your solution.'_

My dad has taught me to be a problem solver ever since I was a kid. He told me that there's nothing was insoluble, I just need time and patient to figure out. Right now, it's hard to trace back what has happened in Hotland with just a card and some survivor's interview, in addition all evidences have destroyed during the explosion. The only way I can think of was to travel back in time and investigate the area, maybe it can also explain my dad's sudden darkened face and name, as well as why Papyrus unable to remember him. The moment I've made up my mind, a strong sense of determination has filled up my heart (soul). I'll find my dad and save him from the explosion.

Dimension travel can quite unpredictable even I managed to have a better control of my power, there's still a risk of getting into dangerous place/stuck in time for ages. Time works differently in different dimension/timelines and I don't know when will I come back or able to survive in the process, in addition it's too risky to take Papyrus to such shifty place. Before I left, I make sure Papyrus was asleep and well-fed. After that, I wrote a note(letter) to him just in case he woke up, briefly talk about stuff I've been through and told him the situation. Using words to express myself can at least help me cover everything I wanted to say long time ago. There were too much burdens and secrets I've never told anyone, if I really died/unable to come back, I want Papyrus to know the truth.

'… _I don't expect you'll forgive me instantly for being a bad brother but I hope you understand. If I can make it back alive, hopefully along with dad, I will answer every single questions you have, I promise. You and dad are always my beloved ones and don't forget to stay cool….'_

Once finished writing, I fold the note carefully and placed it on the computer desk. Later I called my dad's friend and asked him to take care of Papyrus for few days, it was lucky that he didn't ask many questions and agreed to help. After that, I gave Papyrus one last look and headed outside the house.

There were big differences between teleportation and travel across space/time. Teleportation was more easy to control and it didn't require much energy. On the other hand, dimension travelling almost took half of my strength to form a large portal which led me to a reality that contains different timelines and worlds. The portal was extremely large and it shined in rainbow colour once appeared. When stepped inside, it was a void filled with colour trails, each timeline has its own unique colour. One annoying thing about travelling was the place constantly changing with different patterns/ direction, it usually take a large amount of time to locate the world/ timeline I wanted to travel, after that you need to time your move and 'travel' specifically to the right spot, otherwise you may end up in the wrong place. The reality was basically one chaotic maze and I don't really like it, luckily after years of exploring and training, I started to get use to it.

After long time of searching, I managed to pick up a light blue trail which led me to few hours before the explosion happened. Without thinking, I dived into the portal which located at the end of trail, in a second, I was inside of a lab. Next to me, there's a giant 'L4' sign was placed on the wall, this must be my dad's working place.

Compare to the Lab in the house, the whole place was bigger and there were more strange equipment and machines scattered around the area. In the center of the room, some scientist were surrounding a skull head which shaped like a hybrid of dog and dragon, they seems to be testing/ studying it. Different cylinder and cage were being placed near to the skull. Each of them have contained a hybrid monster which were far more terrifying than the ones I've seen at the house, some of them were snaring and attempting to escape by hitting the glass cover/knocking the cage door loudly, however they were quickly subdued by scientist who use magic to make them sleep. I forced myself to stay focus and ignored all crazy/strange stuff happened around me, yet after some time of sneaking and searching, there's still no sign of my dad.

'Dr. Gaster! Come look at this!' a voice called out.

I quickly rushed towards the voice's direction and saw my dad and the scientist staring at an unconscious Loox, there were computer screens next to it which displaying some sort of data with colourful diagram and numbers on it. I hid behind a strange machine and silently observed, what were they doing?

'…Should we proceed to Stage 2?' the scientist asked.

'Not yet…though his result is extraordinary compare to other subjects, but we still need to do one more test on him….can you pass me the "BS-100"?'

I saw the scientist passed dad a syringe full of red liquid and he slowly injected it into the Loox. The Loox gave out a small whine and began to stir up. At first, he laid on his bed peacefully with slightly movement of arms, but the movement quickly turned into a violent of shaking and loud mourn escaped from his mouth. After that, I saw the Loox's appearance started to deform and changed into something animal like, the whole process took about few seconds and I didn't have time to react. The creature that laid on the bed was literally 'monstrous', it looked like a deer but with one big eye and some identical features that the Loox had. The creature opened its eye and got up shakily, then it snared angrily at my dad and quickly pounced at his direction.

'DAD!' I shouted, holding my hand out and prepared to use bone magic blocking its attack.

However, instead of a wall made out of bones, I summoned a strange symbol that shaped like a clock and I felt time seemed to have slowed down a little. Instantly, a ring of light suddenly surrounded me and expanded across the room, as the light range became larger, I noticed everything it 'touched' froze in its position. Without thinking, I rushed towards my dad and the scientist, later moved them out of the way by using blue magic. Once moved them in a safe place, time seemed to unfreeze and returned back to normal. The creature immediately dropped to the ground and looked confused, but quickly got up. Instead of attacking my dad it changed direction and charged at me. Just when I was about to summon my bones, the creature was trapped inside a bone cage and unable to move.

'Are you alright, Sans?' my dad asked, looked concern.

I didn't say anything and dashed towards his direction, later gave him a hug. I felt my dad hugged back and even gave me a pat on the back.

After everything I've been through recently, a hug from dad was the most relieve and calming thing I need.

 _(END OF CHAPTER 7)_


	9. Chapter 8: Meltdown

**Chapter 8: Meltdown**

'How did you find this place Sans? You're not supposed to be here…' my dad said after I decided to let go.

'Long story…but I need to warn you that the building is about to explode soon…' I said.

My dad's expression went from concerned to serious, his white pupils faded out and revealed two black hollow eye sockets. He then quickly pulled down a red lever which placed on the wall near the computers, immediately, red light and loud beeping noise filled up the room. I saw scientists began to drop down their work and headed towards the exit. Just when I was about to check on my dad, I felt something grabbed my leg and pulled me towards it. I let out a yell as I lost my balance and fell to the ground, later noticed the 'Grabber' was the creature that my dad trapped inside the bone cage, somehow it managed to find a way to escape.

I quickly summoned a handful of bones and attacked it, yet my magic only pissed him off. The creature aimed its antler (horns) at my direction and began to charge, I quickly dodged and flew upwards, later sending more bones towards it. During the process, I saw my dad and few scientists were running towards me and shooting different magic projectiles, attempting to take down the creature. Unfortunately, none of the magic hit it but only make things even worst. The deer like creature lowered its head and began to ram its way towards my dad. As it dashed, all equipment, machines, cages and cylinder were destroyed along the way, some of the test subjects which trapped inside managed to break free, later I saw them either wandered around/ joined the deer creature to attack and destroy stuff in the Lab. As I watched the chaotic scene, I felt something clicked inside my head-The alarm, the scientists' evacuation, the explosion…all of the event started to make sense now…

'SANS!'

Before I can react, I felt a strong wave of energy knocked me backwards and everything around me became extremely bright. The pain was unbearable and I can feel my bones about to break and shattered into million pieces, there's no sound came out when I screamed. The blinding light soon reduced to the size of a circle and darkness began to surround me as I continued to fall.

 _Dark, darker and darker….._

I really made a terrible mistake, didn't I….?

The whole falling process reminded me a lot about my first teleportation. Helpless, desperation, lost…I tried to spread my wings to slow down the fall yet I can't move a single bones, there's too much pain and I don't have the strength to help myself. I felt my conscious started to fade out and my vision became blurred. I closed my eye sockets and bided a silent farewell to Papyrus and an apology to dad, later allowed myself to relax and accepted my fate.

 _Sans…!_

I slowly opened my eye sockets and saw a figure approaching me, it was kind of blurry and I saw faint purple light glowing around it. As the figure came closer, I felt my fall has slowed down and I noticed it quickly stuff something inside my pocket, later it murmured something I can't make out and summoned a white object which shaped like the hybrid skull in the Lab earlier, next I saw two of its hand started to glow in purple.

 _Don't forget…_

A strong purple light shined brightly in front of me and everything went black afterwards….

~o~o~o~o~

… _bark…Bark…BARK!_

I began stirred and opened my eye sockets, later noticed a floating dog like skull hovering above me, looking sad and worried. Instant, I summoned few bones out of thin air and ready to attack, before they even formed, the skull whined and back away. I slowly stood up and felt most of the pain has gone and can stand on my own, I can even spread my wings and move my limbs as if they never got hurt. Cautious and awareness started to kick in after my checking, there's no way I can survive the explosion and heal insanely fast. I looked around my surroundings and noticed everything was similar to the first time I arrived to the area except lava hasn't reached to the facility yet. It took me sometime to recall what happened in the explosion, I reached to my pocket and checked what did the figure gave me, later I pulled out a dogtag which had a small device placed on one side, while another side was written 'Eunoia'. The device has 3 tiny lightbulb, one was glowing in light blue, one was in orange and the last one wasn't working, all lined up horizontally below a small monitor that currently showing some sort of data I don't understand. I examined it for a while until suddenly the skull flew towards me and started barking, pushing me forward with its snort.

'Stop pushing me! I'm not in the mood to play with you…'I said, annoyed.

The skull nudged me again, this time more forceful, I noticed its white pupils have dimmed and it was staring at the dogtag, looking upset. Without warning, the skull quickly snatched the tag with its mouth and flew towards the entrance of Hotland.

'Give that back to me, thief!' I shouted and started chasing after it.

It's quite impressive for a tiny skull that sized merely bigger than my hand to carry a dogtag which weighted double its size and able to fly in fast speed. I even have slightly trouble to keep up with its pace. The skull led me to the Waterfall area which required monsters to do a small puzzle with few Bridge seeds in order to get across the gap, it stopped and hovered above the water. The dogtag which it currently 'holding' began to blink in violet colour and produced some sort of buzzing noise. It took me some time to understand what the skull was doing, I used my blue magic to summon the seeds and 'placed' them on the water, as the bridge bloomed, they revealed a pathway which led to a corner that I've never seen before. Cautiously, I walked along the path, later discovered a bench sitting in the middle of the room with a lonely Echo flower next to it. The skull made a tiny huffed and returned the dogtag to me, I noticed the light and buzzing sound became more frequent and loud respectively. As I walked near the bench, the light stopped blinking and there were no more buzzing noise came from the tag, I bended down and checked underneath, later found a book with leather cover. The moment I touched the book, the light turned off itself.

Slow and steady, I sat down on the bench and inspected the book. The first thing I noticed was there were few photos carefully clipped inside, most of them were pictures of me and Papyrus playing/ goofing around. Two of the photos have caught my attention, one of them was a picture of me around 5 years old being held by a woman. At the corner of it, there's a small line written 'Sans (5 yrs old) & Lucida, 2000', something about the woman looks kind of familiar. The next photo was a couple kissing with each other, a younger version of my dad was wearing a suit and next to him was the same woman I saw in the first photo but younger, a memo was stuck on the middle of the photo, scribbled '1990, wedding in Snowdin'. This book must be belonged to my dad but what's its connection with the dogtag and the figure, most importantly, how did the skull manage to lead me to this area….

I was about to take out my dad's ID to check whether his face was still blackened after seeing his wedding photo, yet I can't find it, the card must have fallen somewhere during the chase. Without any choice, I continued to flip to the next page, later I saw a note taped in the middle of a blank page, seemed written in a hurry.

 _Sans, please read from the start and don't skip any entries, there's something you should know long time ago…_

Followed my dad's instruction, I read.

 _(END OF CHAPTER 8)_


	10. Chapter 9:Confession (Gaster's journal)

**Chapter 9: Confession (Gaster's Journal)**

24th December, 1973

I can finally save up enough money to buy myself the first REAL Christmas present which I've been waiting for 15 years. Father and mother never bought me anything other than books related to medication and drugs. They have always wanted me to be a doctor, saying the Underground needs more talent to cure monsters. I have to disagree with their statement, if the facilities and equipment never improved, no matter how talent and clever the monster is, he/ she may still bound by technology and environment's limitation. I am getting sick of my parent's non-sense, getting punish/ scold at whenever I tried to voice out an opinion, strict rules with almost no allowance…There is absolutely no room for me to express myself. This journal I bought can at least create a room for me to write down thoughts and feelings, it makes me feel alive again.

5th January, 1974

Today is my 16th birthday, I no longer need to stay inside the 'prison' and can go on exploring the world without limitation, I have never been so happy in my life. It's been a while since I touched the journal book, there are too many things going on these few days, mostly related to job and university. The Underground do not contain much programme related to Science, in addition the fees are expensive. On the other hand, part time job shops/restaurant offered are limited and not many of them contained decent amount of salary. It seems that I'm running out of luck and my dream of being a scientist have to set aside for now.

5th May, 1974

After few months of searching, I managed to find a restaurant to work at, the owner was kind enough to offer me a place to stay. Life has been more difficult and stressful than before, while not working, I need to deal with daily life problems and continue to search for the right programme. There isn't much time for me to rest and I sometimes have difficulty to fall asleep. To add salt into wound, interacting with customers can be really troublesome and they made me psychologically tired. Often I heard them rumbling about how depressing Underground is and talked about their dreams once they reached the Surface, sometimes when they get too emotional, they are more easy to get drunk. I learnt a lot through these months while dealing with them. As I worked, I felt my dream of being a Scientist is getting stronger and clearer, someone has to improve the Underground condition, hopefully can find ways to break the Barrier and free all monsters!

3rd June, 1974

I met a girl today while the restaurant was about to close. She is a skeleton about my age, looking cheerful and upbeat. It is quite rare to see skeleton type monsters in the Underground ever since the war 50 years ago, my father said many of our kind were killed during the period while battling humans, seeing her gives me a feeling of resemblance and comfort. While she was eating, she started up some conversation and jokes around with puns/ things she found funny. I can't help but laugh at her goofiness, everyone who remained in the restaurant enjoyed her 'mini standup comedy' and the atmosphere seemed to have lifted up a bit. Before she left, I managed to ask her her name and she was called 'Lucida'.

15th August, 1974

Lucida often visit the restaurant during the night and sometimes tell a few jokes/ interact with other customers whenever the atmosphere get intense or generally down. Ever since her appearance, the business got better and the customers seemed to cause less trouble. Normally, I do not like to engage others, but something about her attracts me and I find fascinating. Occasionally, I will chat with her and talk about general topics like interest and academic. While talking with her, it was the most relaxing thing I have ever experienced, like a huge weight has been lifted off. Speaking of 'weight', since the business is getting better, I can see my future seems getting brighter as well. Few days ago, I managed to find a university which offered science programme and the fee is not too expensive, I cannot describe how relieve and content I was that time I succeeded. Entering university is just the first step, to truly achieve my dream, preparation is the key and I should start planning ahead right now…

8th September, 1974

Life can be full of surprises sometimes, when I was about to enter the school, I saw Lucida in the process. We greeted each other and chatted for a while, later I discovered she studied Journalism in the same university as me. It is nice to have someone familiar to hang out with, after the orientation, we exchanged phone numbers and even take turns to look at each other's timetable, later found that we have many subjects were collided together. Seeing this made me feel relieved, in case I cannot find anyone who I feel comfortable to make friends with in the new environment, I can at least have one.

12th April, 1975

Ever since the start of the term, I found myself become absorbed with all sorts of new technology and scientific research which I have never seen before, they are all really fascinating. Through these months, I have been working different projects, studying and research on the Underground .It is extremely important to understand what resources we have and how to use them efficiently. Few days ago, the professor informed us a group of Royal Scientist will come to the university and listen to our presentation about the Underground, not sure if it is coincident, but with the long term preparation, I believe that I can deliver a good presentation. The Royal Scientists are the King's research and science team who responsible to study and invent new techniques to improve the condition in the Underground, more specifically to break the Barrier. Being part of them is one of the most honor thing to have as a monster, if my presentation can impress them, I may have a chance to become one of them…

13th April, 1975

Lucida is one of the smartest and resourceful monster I have ever met, today she handed me a book about human technology and history which she found in the Dumpster Area in Waterfall, saying it may help me for my project. Inside of the book, it contained lots of information and illustration about how human's technology improve using limited resources like stones, wood and fire to using electronics. This gave me plenty of inspiration and direction to improve my presentation! Before Lucida left, I asked her how did she managed to find information without others telling the exact direction. (I only briefly mentioned my presentation objective to her and did not ask for help) She just smiled and told me sometimes I need to think out of the box. Women can be hard to understand and mysterious sometimes, though I am really grateful to have her as my closest friend.

20th April, 1975

I did it! The Royal Scientist have just sent me an offer letter, saying they would like to invite me to join the team as an apprentice. I am looking forward for my first day, how is the Royal Scientist Lab look like? Does it contain lots of advance equipment and machines like the News mentioned? What project will I be participated? So many question to be answered! Though my dream have come true, but this also means that I am not going to see my friends regularly. It is a shame to be separated so quickly, I barely just be friends with them for half year. Guess this is a downside of being part of the Royal Scientist…

29th June, 1985

Through these 10 years, I have never stopped working to find ways to improve the Underground condition. Ever since my first day, I have been asked to perform simple task like researching and helping scientists to prepare materials/ organize and handle paper works. For the first few months, it is a little challenging to handle everything but after some time later, it just become a routine. The longer I worked inside the Lab, I began to realize working as Royal Scientist can be really boring and not as fun as I have imagined, furthermore, research and experiments can go wrong and all hard work may vanish in a second. I have noticed few scientist have went a little nuts or basically quit their jobs. It took me almost 5 years to fully manage the operation of the Lab and worked my way up to become a scientist and another 5 years to become one of the Lead Scientists. The elder scientist said that I was the youngest Lead Scientist they have ever encountered and decided to celebrate today. During the process, we have received an emergency letter from the king, asking the elder and Lead Scientists to head towards the castle. Once we arrived, I saw a dead human girl around 5-6 years old lying near the throne, blood still flowing out from her body, few yellow flowers were dyed into dark red. I heard muffled sniffing and weeping sound came from far distance and I saw the king stood next to the corpse looking distressed and ashamed. None of us spoke for a while until the king asked us to find a way to store and extract the soul, later I watched him walked towards a room behind the throne and heard shouting and sniffing noise inside. After a while, we decided to head back along with corpse, once the girl placed on the table, question and discussion started to fill up the room, I cannot help but to feel pity of her in the process, did not fully pay attention on what the scientist were discussing until the last part, which they decided to build a machine to extract human soul. After that I decided to leave early and call that a day, this is too much for me to handle…

10th July, 1985

Sometimes I wonder whether I should continue to be a Royal Scientist. I have seen many scientist have turned desperate and even mad after the first fallen human. The machine that we have created few days ago have successfully extracted the child's soul and able to store it in a cylinder, which was transportable from the King's castle and the Lab. Since it was the first soul we have collected, all of us are really curious about it and want to investigate more. At first, we collected samples from the corpse and did some mild test on both souls and body, however the result was not satisfied. Later, the elder scientist ordered us to use a more forceful method to test the soul which involved using magic/equipment in order to see its reaction. As we tested, I noticed the soul has released different level of energy. The greater amount of 'damage' it deals, the stronger energy it produced, the soul even managed to cut off the electricity inside the testing area. For the first couple of experiments, I was amazed by the power of the human soul, however as the experiment and testing proceeded, I began to feel disgust of myself. The whole experiment has turned into a soul torture event and it was getting worst and more brutal. Until now, the scientist are still doing it and they seemed to be more focus on Soul study. Part of me think that I should probably follow the rest to test the soul as it is the key to break the barrier and may have a chance to improve the Underground condition, yet at the same time, it is morally wrong to torture a creature no matter it is dead or alive, especially a child's SOUL! This makes me no less of a horrible person and I felt ashamed and guilty. 7 humans' soul will break the Barrier and free everyone, one has collected and I can feel the desperation within me started to rise. Should I bend my ethical standard in order to fulfill everyone's dream or I should just give up? Such tough decision, so little time to decided…

12th July, 1985

Never expected to greet by Lucida, who I have not contacted for a while. She did not change much, still looked friendly and cheerful, informing me that she wanted to do an interview with me. After we moved to a quiet area, we catch up what we have been working during these years. Lucida is currently a Journalist who graduated 6 years ago and responsible to report daily news and the Entertainment section. She is doing well and often wonder what I am doing, after hearing that I have become a Lead Scientist, she decided to pay me a visit and celebrate together. In return, I have told her some projects I am working on. Through these years of training and experience, Science has taught me to mask my feeling and buried them deep down as it required a logical approach, a slight of emotion may ruin a result/process. Normally I am able to put on a façade and conceal everything well with a blank expression, but at that moment, I can feel part of the mask 'wore off'. The soul study has distracted my flow of thought, causing me often lost track and hesitated while I was talking. Lucida seemed concern about me as she started asking whether something bothered me and saying she will help if I need. For the first few minutes, I kept on denied my problems and attempted to talk about other subjects to draw away her attention, yet she just stopped me and looked directly into my eye sockets. I have never seen her angry before and her expression made me chilled to bones (literally). She then proceed to ask me the same question one more time and told me she don't like liars, especially the ones who she treated as good friends. I ended up telling some of my problem after making sure no one is around (skipping the most brutal part of soul study and top secret information).Lucida then gave me a quick hug and thank me for telling her the truth once I finished, she later promised will not tell anyone about my secrets and will come back once she figure out a way. Usually I don't trust others easily, specially someone who I / they never contact for years and came out suddenly to meet up. Is hard to predict their motivation and what they are up to, but seeing her dedication and sincerity, I decided to give Lucida a chance and trust her. I hope that she will keep her promises.

15th July, 1985

Lucida came back today and told me she have come up with an analysis and some general advice, afterwards, she proceed to evaluate different circumstances and perspectives. Lucida emphasized that no matter what I choose, I should always stay true to myself and do what is right. She later made an interesting point about the human soul, saying if the soul able to 'feel' pain, then it should be able to 'feel' the rest of the emotion. Instead of using a violent way to test. Lucida asked me whether I have tried to interact without hurting it. As she continued, I felt my burden was getting lighter and feeling much better. Once the 'consultation' has finished, my brain seemed to have worked out some new ideas. I quickly thank Lucida and promised to treat her for dinner once have time. After escorted Lucida to the main door, she gave her updated phone number and told me to call her whenever I need help, later confessed that I will make a right choice as she thinks that I'm smart and a good man. As I watched her left, I can feel my soul beating uncontrollably and a warm sensation rushed inside me. Is this a feeling of love?

22nd July, 1985

I decided to take Lucida's advice and tried to test the soul in a more peaceful method. So far the soul study hasn't made much progress other than knowing it was relatively 'tired' after numerous of experiments (the amount of energy it released has decreased significantly). For the first few day, I attempted to interact the soul by talking different topics/ telling few jokes to see how it reacted, yet mostly it just remained at the same status, occasionally glowed slightly after hearing a funny story. Often few scientist walked by and gave me a look of disapproval, thinking I was fooling around. But something tells me that I was on the right track, as long as I keep on interact with it, maybe the soul will 'feel' my sincerity. I continued until two days ago, my perseverance and patience have rewarded me! The soul seemed to be happier than before and it produced even more energy than the first time, whenever I was around it, the soul will glow brightly and often tried to follow me around inside its cylinder. After few days of observation, I have made out few assumption: 1. Human soul can 'feel' and gave limited response. 2. The level of light the soul produced, it seemed to reflect its 'emotion. The more positive emotion it received, the brighter it glowed and more powerful energy it produced. Contrarily, more negative emotion it received, the greater destruction it caused which may potentially hurt someone. 3. Human soul's colour may represent a characteristic, the one we extracted was cyan in colour and seemed really passive like it was patiently waiting for an opportunity, it took me a long time to 'gain its trust'. I did a quick test with a light bulb to try and see if my theories were right. For starter, I told a joke and the soul glowed a little, as time slowly passed, I noticed the light bulb started to shine. The more 'happy' it was, the brighter the light bulb glowed. If human soul can produce pure energy and able to light up a light bulb, it may be able to generate greater energy to improve the facilities in Underground, perhaps can act as a fuel…

31st July, 1985

I have drafted out several machine design for the New Underground, which they are going to act as generators to power up the whole kingdom by using geothermal, magic and some of the soul's power. The soul study's progress has improved significant, thanks to Lucida, we have discovered more information about it. The soul seemed to be more cooperate when the scientist didn't use any violent method/ 'pushing it'. As the soul energy was getting more stable and more familiar, we have decided to lend some of its power to renovate the Underground, starting with Hotland. It's been a long time I ever feel energetic and enthusiastic about science, especially it can finally be able to fulfill one of my dreams. The project gives me a great sense of hope and determination and I am looking forward to accomplish it.

5th March, 1987

Another human soul has 'fallen down' today, this time was an orange soul. Compared to Aqua (I nicknamed the cyan soul as I don't know her name), it was rather active and apparently likes getting attention. Aqua doesn't seem to like the new soul very much as its light dimmed and back away slightly. After spending 2 years of getting along with Aqua, I found myself started to grow attached to the soul and often like to talk to it when no one was around. I started to understand its behavior and the soul seemed to be fond of me more than other scientist (Aqua gives more 'response' when I'm alone with her). Other than soul study, I have been working on the renovation and building conveyor belt/ designing more technology based on what I have learnt from the humans. Since human can be able to pass through the entire Underground and reach the castle easily during the past years, a defense system must be add, at the same time, I'm planning to add some entertain elements like puzzle solving in Hotland as the resident are bored and the place doesn't seem to have anything interesting rather than lava and heat, hopefully the renewal can improve the resident's living standard.

11th October, 1989

The renovation has been completed and an opening ceremony was conducted to celebrate our success. Many monster have come to visit the 'New Hotland' and even tried out some of the puzzle and transportation, including the king himself. The Core was a newly added area which connect our lab to the castle, it is responsible to maintain the stability of Underground electricity and transfer them all over the Underground, mainly powered by magic and the 2 souls we extracted. Ever since we added this feature along with the rest of updates, the Underground has become upbeat and happy again, I have never seen so many monster gathered in Hotland. Later today, I decided to invite Lucida and gave her a one-on-one tour in Hotland once making sure everyone has left. Other than thanking her, I wanted to show her the souls(the area still restricted to everyone but Royal Scientist and the king)which she sometimes expressed her desire to see them while we were talking on phone(we have contacted more recently and become close). The tour began once we finished a quick dinner, I explained briefly of how machines/ mechanic worked in particular area and mostly let her explored and tried out puzzles, sometimes she will like me to join her as Lucida thinks it was more fun when more people join in. In one of the air-vent puzzle, she have used her magic to summon a handful of flower petals and playfully placed them on one of the vents, later pulled me towards it and together along with the petals, we floated in mid-air and transported around the vents. At that moment I decided to let myself to be childish and play along with her. Once we 'finished' the vent puzzle, I led her to the lab and brought her to the souls, carefully sneaked inside without drawing attention of other scientist. Watching Lucida's reaction was surprisingly relaxed, from excited to a rather heartfelt emotion, her smile started to disappear and stare at the souls silently. She started to talk about her past and linked how the soul reminded of her, according to her, she was came from a small and poor family. Her mother died after she turned 4 years old and ever since then, her father was unable to speak and everyday refused to eat/sleep, just sat in a corner. Lucida was later being took care by a relative of her, unfortunately he passed away soon she turned 13. She has tried to return home and visit her father, even during the past years tried to look for him, yet he still never be found, without any choices, she have to survive on her own. Lucida stated she don't have anyone to rely on and nothing seemed to make her happy until she found a restaurant which often monster perform stand-up comedy, she felt less lonely and enjoy spending time inside, her mood began to improve afterwards. 1 year later, Lucida met me and enjoy the time we spend together as I gave her a feeling of security and comfort, in addition, I reminded her a lot of her father before his trauma. She then stopped talking for a while and just stared blankly at the two souls. Aqua moved towards her direction and glowed gently, seems attempting to console Lucida. Carrot(orange soul) was surprisingly quiet today, it just floated down and 'watched'. Few minutes later, I noticed tears began to form at the edge of her eye sockets. When I was about to console her, she stopped me and continued her story, later expressed how the two soul represent her relationship with her father, close yet distance, no matter how hard she tries, there was always a barrier which blocked her way like the 2 cylinder separate 2 souls. Once finished, Lucida began to cry and all I can do that time was to hug her tightly, letting her to bury her face and release the pain she had in her life…

13th November, 1989

The King announced all scientist are allowed to take a year off after years of commitment. Taking this opportunity, I decided to let myself relax and spend more time with Lucida. Ever since our hang out, she seemed to become quiet and heartbroken, sometimes talked about how much she missed her father. During last month, I tried my best to provide her consistent support like offer her a shoulder to cry on/ hearing her out/ walk around the Underground with her… Right now she seemed to be recovering and I'm glad to see her smile again.

29th November, 1989

Dating with a girl can be both awkward yet wonderful experience. Few days ago, me and Lucida began to date each other. It was quite awkward at the beginning but as Lucida started talking, I felt myself relaxed instantly…I am no good expert on small talk/ generally warming up with others, usually I rather be a listener and let them talk the rest, but for Lucida's case, I have opened myself and talked more often. Sometimes she will come to my house and stay overnight, we often exchange stories from our work place, playing card/board games or even paint picture (she is quite talented in arts). Without any stress or workload, it was the best time I can fully experience peaceful and happiness while spending time with Lucida.

 _*Thanks for the complements and praise, you're such a sweet heart even in your diary! :)_

 _Lucida, did you just peek inside my journal? And for how many times I told you is a 'journal' not diary?_

 _*Don't be so secretive, Hon'. Sharing is caring. Also you purposely leave your diary on the desk with a pen conveniently placed neatly next to it, doesn't mean that you eagerly waiting for my response?_

 _Sigh….Whatever, peek as you like, I no longer have secrets to you…_

12th December, 1989

 _*Knock knock_

 _Who's there?_

 _*Water_

 _Water who?_

 _*'Water' are you going to do for Christmas?_

 _Lucy, you could ask me directly instead of write it down here_

 _*I know, but isn't this more fun and can act as a message board to store our conversation and memories here? Not mean to be a privacy invader, but I have noticed you don't have much happy memories in your past, so I decided to store up some good ones for you._

 _That is a fascinating idea to use the journal alternatively to store memories, ingenious as always…._

 _*You deserve happiness as well, now why don't we plan out what to do in Christmas?_

14th March, 1990

Totally forgot to write down the things I have been through during these few months, I am being occupied either with Lucy, who officially become my wife last month and preparing for the Rite. The Rite is a simple yet sacred ceremony to all skeleton monster, which it requires one male and female skeleton to dance together, following a specific move and pattern. (Every process and dance moves will come out naturally in your mind once time comes). The Rite only performs when two skeleton fully love each other and want to have children (in short, it basically like a mating ceremony). I have never plan to have children as it required big responsibility and extremely time consuming, but after spending time with Lucy, who taught me the meaning of love and happiness. I have decided to convert what I have learnt and passed them to my next generation. The ceremony lasted for almost 1 hour, after the dance, the male skeleton need to sacrifice part of their bones in order to form the children's soul base (in my case were the palm part of my hands, each skeleton are varied to each other, until now I still feel disturbed to look at them) while the female skeleton need to channel most of her magic to protect the soul base by forming a bubble like shield to surround it. According to some elder generation, skeleton usually takes 10 years to fully grown and once the time comes, the bubble will popped and the baby is 'born'. We need to feed them milk constantly while they are still inside the shield. When the rite was done, two tiny white soul were formed in front of me and Lucy, both of them were surrounded by pink bubbles. Since the ceremony was magic consuming, after taking care of our children, both of us quickly passed out once we lied down on the bed, until now Lucy is still sleeping, the Rite really wore her out.

20th March, 1990

'Sans', meaning without. It was based on two typeface which were 'Sans-serif' and 'Lucida Sans', Lucida Sans was a font invented five years ago and a family member of 'Sans-serif. Since Lucida's name is literally a font and we have two new family members, I have decided to name the elder son after her, while the younger one, Lucy have named him 'Papyrus'. At first I have no clue of why she named him after a thick scroll of paper, later she explained it was based on a plant found in Egypt and the plant reminds her father who taught her how to make paper with it before his trauma. Speaking of her father, we recently heard some news from our neighbor, they said he was found lying in an abandoned house, dying in his sleep few days ago. After the funeral, I noticed Lucy was crying and smiling at the same time. Some monster thinks that she has gone mad, but I can understand that she was relieved and crying tears of happiness, her father can finally rest and reunite with her mother after years of torture.

1st April, 1990

 _*'Nail' it! ;)_

 _LUCIDA! That is so mature of you for putting nail polish on the surface of the soap, now I cannot even clean my hands properly!_

 _*Relax, G! Having fun is also part of life, don't let it 'slip' away_

 _Sigh…..when comes to puns, there's no way to stop you…_

 _*Heh heh…happy April fool's day and don't worry about the soap, I will buy you a nail polish FREE one :)_

 _That will be brilliant…._

4th February, 1992

 _I have created a tracker to monitor Sans and Papyrus' health and growth. In case you forget how it operated, just looked at the instruction I clipped inside the journal book. Remember to press the purple button in case you need me, the light blue bulb represent Sans's soul, while the orange bulb represent Papyrus's soul._

 _*Got it, just remember to rest often and don't overstrain yourself. Call me anytime you like. P.s It is happy to see you get use of the 'message board' :)_

 _Thanks Lucy, you're the best. Isn't this your idea to store happy memories?_

 _*Glad to see you change, G. Keep up with your good work :D_

26th June, 1994

 _Kids really grow quickly, aren't they? The last time I checked, they were still a tiny little heart!_

 _*Time flies…now look at our children. Papyrus's appearance looks like you while Sans's feature looks more like me, both of them are so adorable! I can't wait to hold them in my arms!_

 _6 more years…I wish time can speed up a little. I have many plans for them but since we are getting old, I'm afraid some part may need to cancel._

 _*Plans can always change and modify, as long as it makes them happy and create a strong family bond, I think is already enough._

4th May, 1995

Sans's bubble busted and his HP is extremely low, only 0.5. It took almost 3 hours for us and the doctors to 'secure' Sans's soul by transferring me and Lucy's magic to a box like equipment which Sans lied inside. Since it was too young for Sans to do operation and he is way too fragile, the only thing can do is to let him recover naturally while giving as many energy and nutrition as possible. The doctor said the survival rate was low and few weeks time is the maximum Sans can live. As a father and scientist, I will not tolerate anything happen to my son. Using all equipment and knowledge (including the souls) I have, I will find and invent a solution to save him.

18th May, 1995

Animals from the surface often fall/flew to the Underground, since after they deceased, their body are able to preserve instead of turning to dust, we often took their corpse to study along with the human souls (2 more souls have fallen down recently, one is purple and one is blue. I have nicknamed them as 'Orchid' and 'Sapphire' respectively), trying to find out what makes their soul stronger. Few years ago, scientist started to experiment various subjects with animal parts and their soul( animal soul are more weaker than human and they are transparent). So far, only Test subject 42's soul able to be strengthen while maintain its original appearance. Without hesitation, I injected Sans with 42's serum. Unexpectedly, it worked really well and quickly stabilized San's soul and his HP raised slightly to 1. Instantly, I felt a sense of relief rushed over me. Lucy didn't seem to handle well and almost fainted. At that moment, all I care about was to make sure my son is safe and sound, didn't really aware of what consequence/side effects the serum cost…

21st May, 1995

Mistakes were made…bat wings have sprouted out from Sans's back…

I fuck up…

12th June, 1995

 _*It's almost one month you've never return home, where have you been? I've tried to call you and even sneak into the Hotland Lab, but you never answered and be found respectively. Just want to let you know that I no longer mad about Sans's accident, I shouldn't have harshly criticize your good intention and fully blame you for being a bad person that day. Accident is out of our control and you just try to save him. No matter where you are, please just come back….I miss you so much…._

5th January, 2000

 _*5 years without you, it has become a habit and I have get used of the feeling of loneliness. There were few times I wanted to give up and left for good, but seeing our children, especially Sans. The thought quickly ceased and they motivated me to live on. I kept on telling myself that no matter what happens, I must stay strong for the kids and keep on believing one day you will return home. If you can read this in the future, I hope that you can let go of the past and move on, forgive yourself is a key to freedom, don't let it corrupt and destroy you. Love you always!_

 _Lucida_

 _P.s_ _Happy birthday, I have put the gift along with the photos I recently took on our sons( look at how adorable and happy Sans is!) inside the diary, hope this can help you catch up with the kids :)_

2009(Present day)

Coward…Bad father and husband…Failure….these are the words to sum up my past year and possibly the future. Ruined my son's entire life, being oblivious to Lucy's sickness until the day she died, which was right before Sans turned 6. Because of my desperation and selfishness, all mistakes happened like a chain effect. Even I have tried to make amend for my sons through spending time with them, but every time I saw Sans, the guilt and memories of the past just came back. The only thing which I found comfort on was doing experiments and working, which can let me escape reality and ease my stress for a bit.(How ironic is it? The job I often feel stressful on can give me solace). Going back to my old habit is not a good thing, especially it is the main reason to trigger the chain effect and cause the distance between my sons, but I have run out of solution. I have failed the entire family and don't deserve to be forgiven…

The only thing I can do now is to present the truth to my sons, especially Sans. This makes me less guilty and I have at least made a small redemption to him. If either of you reading this in the future, I'm sorry for being secretive and not spending time with both of you all these months. Perhaps I don't deserve to be your father because I'm clearly failing on the job.

Just consider I have never existed and forget me…


End file.
